


The Magician's Persona

by Kaoupa



Series: Thoughts and Dreams (of Fanfics Yet To Come) [1]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series, The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25632895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoupa/pseuds/Kaoupa
Summary: A series of oneshots in a world crossed over between the Dresden Files and the Persona series.Events are different, things are crossed, and nothing is quite the same.Like usual in fanfictions.
Relationships: Caroline & Justine - Relationship, Justine & Caroline, Justine (Persona Series)/Thomas Raith, Justine/Thomas Raith
Series: Thoughts and Dreams (of Fanfics Yet To Come) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861861
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	1. Love in all the Weird Places

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the Dresden Files or Persona.

“You seduced a Velvet Room Attendant.” I said flatly.

“...It was an accident.” Thomas replied weakly.

“Because that makes it so much better.” I deadpanned.

Thomas didn’t reply. Having his girlfriend Justine wrapped around him in an adult form, her head resting on his shoulder and all pretenses at hiding their relationship gone, was probably disrupting my brother’s thinking.

The two of us learning that she was not human, and in fact was a manifestation of humanity’s subconscious, who served a being who could take down Mab in a straight fight - and that she had willingly disobeyed a direct order from him just to save Thomas’s life - probably wasn’t helping.

Behind us, the rest of the White Court, plus Carlos, and Marcone and his men, were either interacting with each other, forming up into their own individual groups, or throwing the remains of the “uber-ghouls” (who were nowhere near as uber as Justine had been) into a pile to burn what was left of them (apparently they couldn’t reform from getting hit by Samsara when it was spammed several times in a row). 

Oh, and Caroline too - she was going to be doing the burning part of it, considering that she had a _Persona Compendium_ in her arms and a _massive_ Persona behind her. Surtur, if I remembered right.

The rest of the White Court was staring at Justine and Thomas, and trying to pretend they weren’t.

“Well, at least nobody’s going to go after you after this.” I added. 

“Not directly…” Thomas muttered.

Justine cut in for the first time. “Not indirectly either. _I will make sure of it_.”

Her words were undercut with a glare back at the White Court. Most of them decided almost unconsciously to go do something else.

“Yeah, nobody’s going to go after you ever, Thomas.” I concluded. “Although I’m pretty sure that you’re going to be mythological in the White Court from now on as the guy who _seduced a Velvet Room Attendant by accident_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Justine is a grown woman here, for lack of a better word. But she's not exactly human - and her origins are different than they are in the baseline Persona series. I'll get into that later. But trust me, she's definitely old enough to go out with Thomas.
> 
> Also, I actually have some ideas for worldbuilding for this particular crossover. You may see more of that in the future...


	2. New Perspectives and New Loves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Justine - an attendant of the Velvet Room and servant of humanity - grew to love Thomas Raith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this certainly wound up being a lot longer than the last chapter... I am not sure how many people will read this, but I hope you like it.

The more power that you had, the more restrictions that power needed, to prevent it being abused.

If there was anything Lavenza's long, long life had taught her, that was it.

(But she hadn't always been Lavenza, had she? She'd had a different name once).

(She had had so many more siblings, for a very long time - her siblings in the Velvet Room were some of them, but not all of them).

But while those siblings were still her family, in a sense, she saw them far less than she did before.

(Unless she chose to reverse her choice, to become something far greater and more powerful once more - but something that was also forbidden from helping the universe directly far too often).

Even now, at times the part of her that could be called Caroline screamed in anger at how they were, far too often, powerless to _warn_ humanity about anything, about how they could not _interfere,_ could not _help-_

The part of her that was Justine always talked her down. Gave her emotional side the reasons that were needed to stop her from interfering. 

(They had first come to life before the universe was afflicted with linear time. Even after they had given up almost all of their power, in exchange for the blessing to help other people more directly and consistently, they were still mightier than any god humanity had ever created).

(But even with many of her restraints lifted, she still had to be careful about when and where she chose to interfere).

(Her closest family members who were lost to her - the thirty who inhabited this world, or more specifically thirty silver coins on it - would be able to act far more directly if she was not careful with how she chose to act. And if she ever acted too overtly…)

(She could have burned the planet Earth into cinders with a thought, if she had been her old self. Even with that power limited so very far, willingly crippled by her own actions, a “counteraction” by one of them could kill thousands at the very least. She would not permit that).

Even if holding back that way could kill her.

(Not that she would ever need to defend herself).

No foe she had ever faced on this world had ever had the strength to face her at her full power.

Except for the Demiurge.

The second Betrayer of Heaven - the one who had sought to conquer humanity and the Nevernever, in a twisted imitation of what humanity thought of their parent, served by the Shadows and supernatural creatures he had twisted into looking like what humanity thought of her other siblings - those who were not lost, but who had not chosen to descend like her.

(Once, he had been her brother. Once). 

Seeing him destroyed after what he did to her and her “master” - her sibling who had spent the longest time on Earth - had been deeply satisfying. (Even knowing that part of her family had been lost to her truly forever).

Seeing him destroyed by the Trickster’s greatest and truest Persona, a Persona that had become a reflection of the greatest and most lost of her siblings before his Fall, had been bittersweet.

But it was only after his final defeat that she discovered the potential applications of what he had done to her.

When she had been divided for the first time… She was weaker than even before now, when she was apart. (Weak being a very relative term). Her two halves were actually less than half of her, in terms of power.

But with that weakness, more of her restrictions fell away.

And for the first time, she went out into the world, to see humanity for herself (as two "separate" people, granted).

She saw amazing things. She saw things that horrified her (she did what she could to lessen the latter).

And she learned about the supernatural beings inhabiting Earth - the beings that so often were the source of the Personas of humanity that she had learned to call on. Or maybe it was the other way around - perhaps the Personas were the source of the countless supernatural creatures on Earth.

(She would need to ask her sibling who had taken the new name of Igor. After the two who had taken the names Philemon and Nyarlathotep had left Earth, he was the oldest of them there).

And one day, half of her decided to look into one of the more curious factions Earth possessed.

The White Court… was strange. Their Shadows had been strengthened even from birth, often without their knowledge.

And sadly, after they turned, there wasn’t too much that they could do for them. (They had made their choice. It had been made without the knowledge of what they were doing, but they had still made that choice).

And from the second they turned, the Shadow within their hearts grew vast, grew to dominate them much like the Palace-holders did.

Palaces that, in this case, were created without their knowledge or consent.

Most of them could be cruel. Horrific things who fed on life and fear and rage and pain - and who were often more than willing to create those emotions in others to feed on.

They were, most of the time, horrible. The fact they hadn’t chosen to fall like they had didn’t change that. But she felt sorry for them all the same.

And from the second her Justine-half met him, in the bar known as Zero, where she went to learn more about how humanity could appease and at the same time strengthen their Shadows, she felt sorry for one in particular.

Thomas Raith was special to her, from the second she laid eyes on him.

His inner architecture was… strange.

Everyone had a mindscape - even if they weren’t aware of it. A sort of mental housing - something like the dungeons and Palaces the Investigation Team and Phantom Thieves had encountered.

An inner fortress, where you could see through their eyes how they saw the world.

And she had felt the stirrings of affection arise in her for Thomas Raith the second she saw the strangely-contradictory Palace of his heart, soul, and Shadow.

It was a prison far more pleasant than Mementos had ever been.

She could see within it the many cognitions - cognitions of his friends and family. (Harry Dresden and Inari Raith had a unique place in it - they and they alone were the ones in the “visitors section”. The only people who were not condemned to that prison. The only ones who were free.)

The Prison of Hunger, a Palace centered around the White Court itself.

It was a stylish inner world - she remembered a few European buildings when she saw the inside of the prisoners area, especially with all of the marble.

She wasn’t sure what to think of the fact that he was one of the only White Court Vampires who had managed to manipulate his Palace into such a shape.

And, at the very end - she walked into the innermost part of his Palace, to see something that left her surprised.

Every White Court Vampire had an incredibly powerful Shadow, from the second that they turned. More often than not, they would fight it every day of their lives - their higher logic conflicting with their own amplified inner darkness, much like the Winter Knight would.

(The Red Court of Vampires… for them, only the half-turned such as the Fellowship of Saint Giles had such a state. The fully turned had long since lost the ability to listen to anything but that which was dictated by their formerly-innermost Shadow).

Thomas Raith had somehow, even within the Palace that had formed in his soul, kept his Shadow at bay.

A cage had been made - one to hold the demonic Shadow within. But it had broken into pieces long ago.

And now, something new was holding Thomas’s Shadow at bay.

Thomas was.

A second’s glance had told her that it was a cognition - a cognition that Thomas himself had made, of what he thought he should be.

Nobility had almost spilled over from the white-shirted fabrication - strength as well, as he wrestled the Shadow into submission. 

It couldn’t hold the Shadow down forever. And it knew that. The Shadow would escape eventually, and the cognition would have to find it again and wrestle it into submission anew.

But she could tell, from the second that she took a look, that it didn’t plan to ever let that stop it from trying.

Satisfied with that final look at who Thomas Raith was, she reemerged into reality, where almost no time had passed.

Outside of his inner self, Justine smiled at him, and agreed to spend time with him, feeling a twinge of curiosity - and kindness. 

(What she had felt at first would be a mere campfire compared to the bonfire of her love for him to come).

Later that night, he “talked” her into going to bed with him. 

Out of curiosity, she had agreed, only to remember as he reached out how what she was might affect him.

(She concealed her power from him, somehow sent everything but a “human sized” fragment of who she truly was to the Velvet Room, away from him, so that he couldn’t drink from her entirely - had he truly drank in even a fragment of what she was even in this reduced state, her blessed power would have burned him alive from the inside out at best).

For some reason that escaped that half of her, when he asked her if she wanted to come see him again in the future, she said yes.

But judging by the squeal of joy that escaped Caroline when they reunited and she told her what had happened - and Lavenza’s reddened face when she reformed and thought it over a second time - Thomas’s affection wasn’t lost on all of her.

And as she spent more time with him, despite what the Shadow inside him thought, it was his human side - the part of him that his cognition represented, what he _wanted_ to be, so very badly - that made her fall in love with him. Even as Justine.

(It was the first time she had ever truly felt that way. What humans called “eros” - romantic love. She loved her siblings as Lavenza - but for all that she could learn more about the world as Caroline and Justine, she was incomplete as them. She felt… less, as them). 

(Regret and love she didn’t always know how to portray safely as Caroline - and as Justine, she felt almost nothing, towards those who had fallen, and she felt little at all towards her still-loyal family members (save those who had come to Earth with or before her)).

And even knowing more deeply than anyone else about the source of his hate for himself, _all_ of her - Lavenza - loved him anyways, and would tell him every day of his life if needed, that he was nothing like them.

She wouldn’t have risked her “human” self - the part of her that was allowed to live a life outside the Velvet Room - if he wasn’t worth it.

And she honestly sort of appreciated what he did, since it let her spend her sleeping hours - as well as some of the time she was feigning a stupor - within the Velvet Room again.

Granted, she had to deal with her master and her family being very upset with her for risking herself, but they did understand why she did it.

And afterwards, spending time with the Raiths… the Velvet Room was forbidden to interfere, to give knowledge that was obtained unnaturally or by means beyond the power of humanity to its defenders or members. 

The many, many rules that were binding her - even as her halves Caroline and Justine - said nothing about the knowledge that could be obtained by simply taking human form and listening carefully.  
  
(And they said not too much about spreading that knowledge or sealing it away using slightly-supernatural methods, if she wanted to).

(But using supernatural ways to preserve mortal knowledge drew unwanted attention - especially from her lost siblings, since the smarter ones always kept half an eye on their opposite numbers on Earth).

(And the knowledge that anything with the slightest trace of an angel’s light had started to notice and care for anyone besides another angel more than usual, even if that person was an immortal...)

(That sort of knowledge was spread only among the tightest and most restricted of circles, among the beings who could all be at least compared to what she had once been).

(Particularly the ones who were, in no way, shape, or form, related to what she had once been).

  
  
  


As the forces of the Outsiders spilled into the vast cavern that held the summit of the White Court, Justine felt dread like she had never before.

They had come. For _her,_ in all likelihood.

Well, not _just_ for her, but mostly for her.

She could recognize what was happening here. The _taint -_ what the Faerie Courts called Nemesis - was almost palpable in presence here.

And she knew the likelihood of the White Court giving up to them.

She wasn’t sure what terrified her more, the idea of the everyone here dying or everyone here being infected by Nemesis.

Especially Thomas. 

And with her as weak as she was now, with her core “self” sealed away with Caroline in the Velvet Room… with most of herself not here...

She suppressed a shudder that even with her attempt to control herself, spread throughout her entire body.

She couldn’t fight like this.

But she wouldn’t have to, hopefully. She could leave it to the White Court to defend itself - and as long as she could make sure Thomas and Harry made it out of here alive, she… honestly didn’t mind if most of the people here died, frankly. (They were horrible people, almost to the last).

Then, something changed.

The Outsiders decided to take a slightly more proactive approach to things.

Despair spread over the group.  
  
Everyone in it except her.

(She didn’t see, out of the corner of her eye, Harry acting… oddly).

(She wouldn’t realize until later that her actions that day had saved the life of her lost sibling's Shadow).

(But all of that was a problem for the future).

(She had to save him).

(No matter what).

“Thomas!”

Even in the grasp of the despair induced by He Who Walks - _no, even thinking that isn’t safe, stop it -_ his head spun towards her the second she spoke.

And seeing her standing tall, the despair afflicting everyone seemingly washing off her like water off a raincoat, shook him ever so slightly out of it.

But she didn’t take notice of that - or at least, she didn’t view it as very important. Her entire being was focused on crouching in front of him, to speak with him (for what might be the last time, if her master was displeased or viewed this as too great of a violation of the rules - the actions of an Outsider would hopefully lighten her potential penalty, but...)

“I’m… very sorry about this.” She said quietly, kneeling to view him right in the eyes. His eyes didn’t seem to gain any great understanding.

“And… no matter what happens from now on…” her heart briefly seized in her throat.

She’d never been good at saying things like this flat-out.

Caroline, mostly, was the one that handled emotions when they truly, deeply, felt it.

She had only done this once.

When she had given herself up to save him.

“I will love you. No matter what you become…”

She stood up. Quietly, she reached into that place in the back of her mind - the place she always barricaded off when she was around him. The connection to her other half that couldn’t be taken away no matter what.

_Caroline, I need your help._

“I… just hope you can do the same for me.” 

And as she felt the distance between her and her twin lessen, she called out for one of her favorite Personas. One that seemed fitting for this situation.

“Valkyrie, come.”

As the form of a woman riding a horse materialized behind her, she smiled.

_No more here shall fall today. I swear it._

And as her twin arrived, and the feeling of bloodlust in battle - of _power -_ flowing through her arose, she couldn’t stop herself from smiling.

“Ravage them. Gigantomachia.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that quote from Joker? Justine stole that on purpose.


End file.
